Showtime promotes Stephen Espinoza

Stephen Espinoza has been promoted to a new title within the Showtime Networks family, as he is now President, Sports and Event Programming, as announced today by Showtime Networks President and CEO David Nevins.

“Simply stated, Stephen is the heavyweight champion of his profession,” said Nevins. “He is an innovator, equal parts thoughtful and tenacious, who has turned Showtime boxing into the market leader, while also driving excellence in our documentaries and sports series.”

Under Espinoza’s leadership, Showtime has become a much bigger player in the boxing world. While their viewership numbers still generally lag behind HBO’s, that’s due to HBO having a bigger customer base.

Espinoza’s greatest successes have come with Floyd Mayweather, including last year’s biggest pay-per-view, Mayweather-McGregor, which was also the second-biggest pay-per-view of all-time, behind 2015’s Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, which Showtime co-promoted with HBO. The massive 2013 fight between Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez also came together on Espinoza’s watch.

With Mayweather now retired (again/for now), it’s set to be an interesting year for Showtime boxing, but the network is putting together a lot of fights, and they’re clearly motivated to stay busy in 2018.